A loss of innocence: the disappearance of Victoria B.C.'s Michael Dunahee

March 24, 1991 is a day that is on constant replay in Crystal Dunahee's mind.

She is on her way to a Sunday touch football game and she has her four-year-old son, Michael, with her. The young boy asks if he can go play in the park while she plays football. So, Crystal does up her son's hood, looks him in the eye, tells him to stay in the park and wait for his dad to come get him. The boy runs off, dressed in a blue hooded jacket and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t­-shirt. 

That was the last time Crystal, or anyone, saw Michael.

It's a moment that turned the city of Victoria, British Columbia upside down and resulted in the biggest police effort in the history of Vancouver Island. It's what many people in Victoria call their 'JFK moment' — everyone in Victoria remembers where they were when Michael disappeared.

About the producer

Jean Paetkau works out of CBC Victoria for All Points West. She has worked on the award-winning CBC national radio program The Main Ingredient. She also writes essays for The Globe and Mail, and has won a Leo Award for writing for the APTN show Warrior Games.